Playing a Hunch, Taking a Risk
by PeggsterLover
Summary: Brandt took a risk on a mission. Now he's dealing with the nightmare of what could have happened. Fortunately, Benji is there to reassure him that he did the right thing.


_Another random one shot. I can't stop writing these days, it's crazy… LOL_

_Anywho, hope you like this one…_

_And nope, still don't own them :(_

_Enjoy!_

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Benji looked up from his book when he heard a small noise. It was barely audible, but it was enough to make the tech curious; especially when the noise came from their resident analyst. He glanced to where Brandt was sleeping. He lay on the airplane couch, resting on his right shoulder with one arm underneath his pillow while the other is flopped over his torso. His breathing was relatively normal as he slept, his chest rising and falling while his nostrils flared with each breath. It was a rare occurrence to see Brandt sleeping; the analyst was usually on the go non-stop. He would be awake when Benji fell asleep and still so when the tech woke up again. Benji had started to wonder whether he ever slept at all, but a mission in Spain had proved otherwise. Brandt had been exhausted from all the running he had to do through Barcelona's central streets and by the end of it he had been ready to pass out. Yet sleep was something few and far between, which worried the tech slightly. Lack of sleep often meant lack of attention and that on a mission was not a good thing.

Benji jumped slightly when his friend made another noise, this time louder, and rolled onto his back. His face became anguished though he remained asleep. The tech watched him for a few moments until Brandt had settled again before going back to his book. Ethan and Jane had stayed behind to clear things after the mission, sending Benji and Brandt back early to recuperate from their recent ordeal. The pair had been captured by their target's men and beaten for information. In an attempt to escape, Brandt had made a spontaneous and risky decision but he pulled it off and the pair made it out alive. The soft humming of the jet's engines was starting to lull Benji to sleep himself and after ten minutes of resisting, a yawn was his signal to put his book down. Placing it on the little table, he shuffled down on the sofa and rested his head on the pillow, sighing contently as he closed his eyes.

After a few moments, just as sleep was pulling the tech under, he heard something.

"Benji…" Brow furrowing, he wondered if he had imagined it. Silence fell again and he shrugged to himself, not even bothering to open his eyes.

"Benji." There it was again. Maybe Brandt had woken up. Rolling over, Benji opened his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but when he looked across at the analyst, he found him to be still asleep. Tilting his head to the side, Benji watched his friend's face scrunch up again, the expression almost pained. "Benji…" He must have been dreaming. Suddenly, Brandt's head shot from left to right. "Benji no…" Cautiously, Benji stood and slowly approached the analyst. He knew it wasn't a good idea to wake up someone who was dreaming, but if it got any worse, he felt he may need to act. "Leave him alone." His next words were more desperate and Benji began to worry. He wondered what the older agent was seeing. "Benji…"

"Brandt, it's ok." Benji knelt next to him, hovering his hand over the man's arm, unsure of what to do. "I'm here." Taking the risk, Benji gently placed his hand on the analyst's bicep, just to reassure him that he was there. Then, something happened which startled the tech.

"Get off me!" Brandt yelled out and sat bolt upright. Benji jumped slightly and moved, but as the other man's eyes shot open, his arm flew out, his fist catching the Brit in the face. As he tumbled to the ground, Brandt seemed to come to his senses, looking down at his friend.

"Shit!" he climbed off the sofa and onto the floor, placing a hand on Benji's shoulder. Removing the tech's hand from his face with his own, he noticed that Benji's right cheekbone was already shining with a slight red tint to it. To Brandt, it seemed to stand out more than any of the injuries Benji had received during their captivity. "Benji, I'm so sorry. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about it." Benji looked at Brandt seriously. "Are _you _ok?"

"Me?" The analyst seemed shocked. "Why are you asking me if I'm ok? I'm the one who just clocked you in the face."

"Yes, I am. You were tossing about there." Benji motioned to the sofa and Brandt sighed. The tech's gaze was soft and kind as he spoke. "What did you see?"

"I saw it. That moment when I put _your_ life in _my_ hands without fully knowing what would happen." Brandt couldn't bring himself to look at Benji. In his mind, he saw their main captor, holding Benji tight in his grasp, the gun pressing unceremoniously into his temple. He saw himself standing over the guard he had taken down only seconds earlier, aiming the gun at their captor's head. He had one shot at hitting his target; if he didn't take it, Benji would be killed instantly. And if he missed and hit his friend… "I risked your life on a hunch."

"But you pulled through for us. You saved both of our lives and that's what matters." Benji tried to reassure him of it, hoping Brandt would realise that while it was a risk, he had succeeded. "If you hadn't tried that, we probably would have wound up dead anyway. I can't thank you enough for what you did."

"Even if I did cause you to have a gun aimed at your head?" Brandt raised his eyebrows as he finally looked to the other agent.

"Comes with the job, I guess." Benji shrugged.

"No it doesn't, Benji. You shouldn't have to go through that. I shouldn't have let you go through that."

"Brandt, you didn't cause us to get caught. That was by bad luck. And what happened was…" Benji searched for the right words as Brandt watched him intently. "Well who's to say I wouldn't have ended up in the same position anyway? He might have done that to get information out of you, we don't know. Please don't beat yourself up over it. You saved my life back there. Keep that in mind, ok?" It took a few seconds for Benji's words to be absorbed, but when they finally were, Brandt managed a nod. With this, Benji stood up. "Good. Now I'm going to get an ice pack, because you've got one hell of a swing on you there, Agent Brandt. I'm glad we're on the same team."

Brandt smiled and looked to the ground. "Yeah." The word came out as more of a breathy sound as he tried to convince himself of what his friend had just said.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

_So how was it? Hope that it was good enough for you wonderful people._

_Much love x_


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